What is MYQIP? (My Quality Improvement Program)

MYQIP is a quality/performance improvement program that permits participants to choose a quality improvement (performance improvement) program that best fits your needs. We know that primary care practitioners and specialists have different interests and different practices. For example, a dermatologist would not be very interested in a quality/performance improvement project on appendicitis. MYQIP permits practitioners to choose from many different quality/performance improvement projects from many different specialty areas. Additionally, MYQIP permits practitioners to create their own quality/performance improvement project. MYQIP means that participants will truly feel that this is MY Quality Improvement Project/Program. When you participate in a MYQIP project, you are never alone. MYQIP projects are run as a group called the project community. The project community of MYQIP project participants will collaborate in the project using their own practice. But the data is collated and reviewed by the project community. This group process facilitates the quality/performance improvement process. There is a group leader, called the project community leader (PCL). The PCL will facilitate the group process. The group will provide suggestions to the project community members so that the group learns practice improvement strategies from the suggestions and recommendations of the group.

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Here are some common questions that are asked about MYQIP.

How do I select a MYQIP project that interests me and helps me to improve my practice? You can review the list of MYQIP projects on the MYQIP home page. Hopefully one of these projects will meet your needs.

Do MYQIP projects have an enrollment period? Yes. You must enroll in a MYQIP project during the open enrollment period. You cannot join a MYQIP project that is already in progress.

Is it possible to access a MYQIP project that is in progress or that has been completed? Yes. MYQIP projects that are developed can be used again to be run by different groups. However, viewing data within a project while it is running is confidential and can only be viewed by project community members.

If I don't see a MYQIP project that interests me, how do I create my own MYQIP project? On the MYQIP home page, you can click on the option to create your own MYQIP project. MYQIP will guide you in creating a new project. You also have the option of reviewing MYQIP projects that were previously created. You have the option of using these projects as your MYQIP project. If you choose to start a MYQIP project, this project will need a project community leader (PCL). As a PCL, you will be reponsible for the progress and task completion of the MYQIP project. MYQIP will provide you with automated assistance in contacting all project participants and with data collection. MYQIP requires that the topic of the project be consistent with a policy or recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the Institute of Medicine (IOM), or the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

I see that most of the MYQIP projects involve patient care. If I am an administrator or educator with little or no patient care involvement, can I use MYQIP to improve administrative or educational goals or performance measures? Yes. There are several examples of this. If you are an educator such as a residency program director, a MYQIP project could use residents as the "patients" or the subjects being measured. You could pick completion rates of their learning plans, their scores on in-training service exams, their rate of attendance at conferences, or their compliance with hospital training courses such as basic life support. You would then implement a plan to improve these and the then examine this in follow-up to see if these improve. If you are an administrator, you could similarly use compliance with hospital training courses for residents. You could also use hospital or university performance measures such as patient satisfaction scores, various financial performance measures, peer evaluation scores, etc. The topic would be subject to MYQIP's requirement that the project is consistent with a policy or recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the Institute of Medicine (IOM), or the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

I am not very familiar with the quality improvement or performance improvement process. How can I learn more about this to better participate in a MYQIP project or even lead a MYQIP project? MYQIP requires participants and project leaders to complete a Quality Improvement Basics course that will be provided to you as part of the enrollment process. This course is a pre-requisite for participating in a MYQIP project. If you have already taken the QI basics course as part of an EQIPP course or a previous MYQIP project, you need not repeat it.

Do I get Maintenance of Certification (MOC) credit for MYQIP? We are applying for MOC part 4 credit. We are hoping that a MYQIP project participant completing the project will earn 10 MOC part 4 credits. A project community leader will earn 20 MOC part 4 credits.

Is there an registration fee for MYQIP? Yes. The registration fee for each MYQIP project is $50 for AAP members, $75 for non-AAP members. This fee is refundable during the first two weeks of the project. However, after this time, the fee is non-refundable.

How long will it take to complete a MYQIP project? Each MYQIP project has an approximate project completion time period posted on the MYQIP home page. By clicking on the MYQIP project, the proposed time line will be available for your review. Typically, MYQIP projects take about 32 weeks to complete. The QI basics course must be completed prior to this time. It is possible to speed up this process, but this will be managed by the project community leader. Since this is a group project, all participants must have enough time to complete each of the steps of the QI process. See a typical MYQIP project time line below.

What are the basic steps of a MYQIP project? Each MYQIP project begins with a proposal on improving a particular aspect of your practice. The project community leader determines a measurement to be used to measure the performance or quality of this aspect of your practice. The group then measures their practice using this measurement to obtain the baseline measurement. The group then shares this information with each other. Some practices might be performing well and others will have the opportunity for improvement. Participants then propose a method to improve their practice. The group reviews all these proposals and then each participant decides on a method to improve their practice. Each participant can pick a different method. The group then continues to practice with these performance improvement methods in place. After 8 weeks in practice, the group measures the performance of their practice again to get a follow-up measurement to see if their practice improves with the improvement method in place.

That sounds like a lot of work for the project community leader. How can he/she remember to complete all these steps? MYQIP is automated to provide automated reminders, automated deadlines, and automated data displays. This is all done by e-mail and by accessing a MYQIP project web site. MYQIP tells each project participant what to do and when the deadline is. MYQIP sends multiple reminders so that participants will be given clear instructions on what to do. Participants will need to have an e-mail address and internet access to participate in a MYQIP project.

Is there an enrollment fee for MYQIP? Yes. The enrollment fee is paid prior to the start of the MYQIP project. This process commits the participants to complete the requirements of the project.

What would happen if a participant in a MYQIP project does not complete his/her requirements for the project? The participant would be removed from the project and he/she would forfeit the project registration fee. No MOC credit would be awarded.

Show me a sample timeline for a typical MYQIP Project.
. . .Jan 1: Project proposal is posted on the MyQIP web site as an available project.
. . .Jan 1 to Feb 26 (8 weeks): Enrollment period. Potential participants review project on web site. If they like it, then they will enroll during this period.
. . .Feb 27: Project start date. E-mail sent to participants.
. . .Feb 27-Mar 11 (2 weeks): Completion of QI basics course. For participants who have already completed this, this time will be idle. Initial e-mail sent describing task. Reminder e-mails sent every 4 days until the completion confirmation is received on the web site.
. . .Mar 12-Apr 8 (4 weeks): Baseline data collection. Enter data on the web site. Initial e-mail sent describing task. Reminder e-mails sent every 5 days until the completion confirmation is received on the web site.
. . .Apr 9-22 (2 weeks): Participants review data posted on web site. They enter a review and reflection commentary of 50 words or more on the web site. Initial e-mail sent describing task. Reminder e-mails sent every 4 days until the completion confirmation is received on the web site.
. . .Apr 23-29 (1 week): PCL (project community leader) summarizes reviews and reflections. E-mail sent to PCL describing the task. When completed, this summary is sent as an e-mail to participants, advising them of the next step. Reminder e-mails sent every 2 days until the completion confirmation is received on the web site.
. . .Apr 30-May 13 (2 weeks): Participants brainstorm and submit performance improvement method proposals on the web site. Initial e-mail sent describing task. Reminder e-mails sent every 4 days until the completion confirmation is received on the web site.
. . .May 14-27 (2 weeks): Participants review all proposals and choose their PI method(s) that they would like to implement into their practice (does not need to be the same method that they initially proposed). The chosen method(s) is entered on the web site. Initial e-mail sent describing task. Reminder e-mails sent every 4 days until the completion confirmation is received on the web site.
. . .May 28-June 24 (4 weeks): Participants implement their chosen PI method(s) into their practice. When implemented, they must confirm this completed implementation date on the web site. Initial e-mail sent describing task. Reminder e-mails sent every week until the completion confirmation is received on the web site.
. . .June 25-Aug 19 (8 weeks): Practice in operation with performance improvement method(s) in place. No task to complete during this period. Practice operates normally with newly implemented PI method(s) in place. Reminder e-mails sent every week until the completion confirmation is received on the web site. One week prior to the end of this period (Aug 13), e-mail reminder will inform participants that the follow-up data collection period will begin in a week (Aug 20).
. . .Aug 20-Sep 16 (4 weeks): Follow-up data collection. Enter data on web site to see if improvement as resulted. Initial e-mail sent describing task. Reminder e-mails sent every 5 days until the completion confirmation is received on the web site.
. . .Sep 17-30 (2 weeks): Participants review follow-up data posted on web site. They enter a review and reflection commentary of 50 words or more on the web site. Initial e-mail sent describing task. Reminder e-mails sent every 4 days until the completion confirmation is received on the web site.
. . .Oct 1-7 (1 week): PCL summarizes reviews and reflections. E-mail sent to PCL describing the task. When completed, this summary is sent as an e-mail to participants, advising them of the next step. Reminder e-mails sent every 2 days until the completion confirmation is received on the web site.
. . .Oct 8-21 (2 weeks): Participants review PCL summary and submit evaluation of this MyQIP project on the web site. Initial e-mail sent describing task. Reminder e-mails sent every 4 days until the completion confirmation is received on the web site. When completed, MyQIP sends a completion certificate to the participant indicating CME credit and MOC credit.

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